The present disclosure relates to underground mining machines, and in particular to a mining machine including multiple cutter heads.
Hard rock excavation typically requires imparting large energy on a portion of a rock face in order to induce fracturing of the rock. One conventional hard rock mining technique includes operating a cutter head having multiple mining picks. Due to the hardness of the rock, this method is often impractical because the picks must be replaced frequently, resulting in extensive down time of the machine. Another technique includes drilling multiple holes into a rock face and inserting an explosive device into the holes. The explosive forces fracture the rock, and the rock remains are then removed and the rock face is prepared for another drilling operation. This technique is time-consuming and exposes operators to significant risk of injury due to the use of explosives and the weakening of the surrounding rock structure. Yet another technique utilizes roller cutting element(s) that rolls or rotates about an axis that is parallel to the rock face, but this technique requires imparting large forces onto the rock to cause fracturing.